Feral HouseHigh-quality books on forbidden topics. Feral House has been publishing innovative and celebrated non-fiction books since 1989. Movies have been made, cultural trends influenced and political crimes exposed by our small, independent press.2015-03-23T14:55:06Zhttp://feralhouse.com/feed/atom/WordPressMonica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53752015-03-06T06:41:18Z2015-03-06T12:00:24Z

Perhaps you’re unaware how long it takes for a book to be designed, printed and shipped. Sometimes it feels like forever.

We are now excited to finally receive our copies of the fabulous hardcover book Pulp Macabre: The Art of Lee Brown Coye’s Final and Darkest Era. And what a glorious thing it is.

Coye was a spectacular illustrator of horror fiction. His detailed work was quite extraordinary, finer than just about any artist in the genre. Late in his life Coye was felled by a huge stroke, disallowing him the use of his painterly hand. As a result Coye was forced to learn how to use his non-favorable hand to illustrate once again. As a result, his post-stroke style became even stranger and weirder than before.

Edited by Mike Hunchback and Caleb Braaten (of Brooklyn’s great record label Sacred Bones), Pulp Macabre is fully deserving of your attention, and it’s available from Feral House right now here: http://feralhouse.com/pulp-macabre/

Here’s an example of Lee Brown Coye’s early work:

You can see Coye’s work as featured in Pulp Macabre in the video trailer for the book.

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53672015-02-27T21:19:04Z2015-02-27T19:50:36ZThe nasty reality of the publishing business was revealed to me when I labored for New York’s Strand Bookstore. My job involved hauling “review copies” downstairs to the book buyer. It was overwhelming to see all the garbage launched onto the planet in the form of a printed book. This was the publishing and resale business up close and ugly, and I could not help but become cynical and dispirited by it all.

Is this where my fellow humans received profound helpings of information and creativity? God, I hope not. I owned remarkable examples of the printed book, and knew they had the possibility of being far more interesting.

Fortunately we were introduced to friend of a friend (thanks Georganne Deen!) who I convinced to assist me with publishing more intriguing titles than the horrible norm. For the next couple years we began an imprint called “Amok Press.” After Amok Press had its run, I moved to the West Coast from NYC and started Feral House in 1989.

Feral House became identified as a company that largely did dark, nasty, and conspiratorial stuff, and became a kind of publishing testing ground. In time other publishers —big and small — started to do Feral House variants once we proved that it was possible to do so. One of the founders of another firm said his company was founded to be a “better branded” Feral House.

Still, there’s a wide world out there, and most of the time Feral House was first and best. Throughout the years, when Feral House showed its wares at publishing conventions, many bookstore owners would look at our table, and give us the hairy eyeball as they moved on down to get their Suzanne Somers cookbooks signed.

Few people might believe this, but my interests run further afield than death, corruption, violence and insanity. A decade ago we founded the imprint Process Media with Jodi Wille as a forum for other sorts of books, many those in the realm of self-reliance, unorthodox lifestyles and books that undemonized the idea of “cults” and drug-taking. Though Jodi is now primarily involved with filmmaking (you should see the remarkable documentary, The Source Family, that she co-directed with Maria Demopoulos), Process Media continues on strong as ever.

Process’ most recent title, Power of the Seed, by Port Townsend native Susan M. Parker, is an amazingly clear Self-Reliance Series book on the true idea of what “essential oils” are and their creation (it’s decidedly not what you purchase at the supermarket or Body Shop).

The book has just rolled in from the printer, and is now available here. A great video for it is coming next week!

Next week we also will introduce the new Feral House book, Pulp Macabre: The Art of Lee Brown Coye’s Final and Darkest Era edited by Mike Hunchback and Caleb Braaten (and co-published by the great Sacred Bones Records). The books have finally rolled in despite the strike at US’ West Coast ports!

This morning we heard the sad news of the passing of actor Leonard Nimoy who worked, non-Spock like, with my own long-gone father in The Man From UNCLE (The Project Strigas Affair) and a Henry Fonda tv-movie called The Alpha Caper. My father enjoyed acting with him a great deal. May he rest in peace.

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53592015-02-20T16:29:05Z2015-02-20T16:20:11ZThroughout the internet data smog of talk shows, TED conferences and feature articles, we have noticed the discussion of “transhumanism,” or the means of using technology to create super humans, in which pitiful biological realities are enhanced by computer superbots.

There’s a decent breakdown of Transhumanism on Wikipedia, though it actually bypasses the idea’s philosophical origins when in 1748 the French philosopher Julien Offray de la Mettrie published Man a Machine, a work that bypassed Christian beliefs, reducing man to a biologically determined animal unmoved by moralism. Excerpts from Man a Machine were printed in my Apocalypse Culture compilation back in 1987.

But according to Joseph P. Farrell and Dr. Scott D. deHart’s Transhumanism: A Grimoire of Alchemical Agendas (recently reprinted in a corrected edition that removed typos) transhuman ideas actually reach back millennia further than those of de la Mettrie and the Enlightenment, leading back to Plato and the Vedas. Transhumanism is a fascinating work, and quite relevant to the seemingly sci-fi ideas of Raymond Kurzweil and others who aspire to hasten the techno-God stage of human development.

All fellow Luddites must endure the pain of reading the Feral House book on Transhumanism, although scientists are developing ways to implant memories, ideas and information so that the all-too-human can bypass the learning process. Can the transhuman man bypass the destruction of his biosphere and its proposed geo-engineered correction? We’ll have to approach that alchemical agenda some other week.

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53512015-02-06T17:21:36Z2015-02-06T16:55:12ZLast year we celebrated the pre-Roman Lupercalia festival at Wacko / Soap Plant / La Luz de Jesus, and boy did we have some fun, particularly in company with Faunus, the Horned God. This year, Feral House returns for another Lupercalia festival next Friday the 13th of February.

This time we’re exhibiting signed original photographs of the amazing William Mortensen. The f/64 club is now losing ground to Mortensen’s renewed reputation… Ansel Adams must be turning in his grave.

Available at Soap Plant will be a number of Feral House books including the two new Mortensen books that have sold well and have accumulated amazing reviews and features. Now you’ll able to see his work in person and get first printing copies of American Grotesque: The Life and Art of William Mortensen and The Command to Look. Also appearing, signing and speaking are the books’ editors, Larry Lytle and Michael Moynihan. Feral House’s Monica Rochester and Adam Parfrey will also be present. We’ll tell you about all our ungodly new books for the year.

I’m told that refreshments will be available, and I look forward to seeing all our friends! Visit the La Luz site here for more details!

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53392014-12-26T23:54:09Z2014-12-26T21:03:57ZWith Tim Burton’s movie Big Eyes about Walter and Margaret Keane hitting the theaters, Amazon is selling our book Citizen Keane: The Big Lies Behind the Big Eyes like giant, round, piping-hot flapjacks. Get on the list to get your copy from them, (don’t be scared by their “2 to 4 weeks” estimated shipping time…more like 2 to 3 days), or order direct from us!

Get the whole crazy story, stranger than even Tim Burton could depict on screen…

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53312014-12-19T19:27:17Z2014-12-19T19:27:17ZA quick reminder if you want an inexpensive way to acquire Process Media or Feral House books…

The sale is ending Xmas eve!

Buy 2 or more books from either site, and get 30% off with the promo code HOLIDAY30

Feral House gives thanks to the extraordinary reception we’ve received for our two William Mortensen books and our funny approach to the crazy Keane saga that even Tim Burton couldn’t get near.

Please have our beast wishes on your Hop-driven Holiday!

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=53212014-12-12T20:32:44Z2014-12-12T19:57:47ZThere was a lot of weather up here in Port Townsend last night, knocking out our power. How close we were in needing certain Process Media Self-Reliance titles, including the shortly forthcoming title called Back To The Wild.

The wood stove warmed us well, and flashlights, vodka and physical books helped us pass the time.

As far as Feral House news goes, our books about great and ghastly photographer William Mortensen are getting a lot of favorable press, and a few First Edition Mortensen titles are still available (for the moment) through the Feral Holiday Sale that features free shipping and a 30% discount… Take a look: Time is running out!

If you’re in New York, you won’t want to miss the Mortensen exhibition at the Stephen Romano Gallery in Dumbo: http://romanoart.com/

If you’re in Seattle, see the Mortensen exhibition at the famed Roq La Rue Gallery as some amazing prints are available for purchase, and they’re surprisingly inexpensive… (the prints signed and created by the Master himself are more costly as they’re quite rare): http://www.roqlarue.com/category/exhibitions/

Future William Mortensen exhibitions will be traveling to Los Angeles and San Francisco in early 2015.

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=52562014-10-30T17:26:12Z2014-10-30T17:07:22ZOnce a year comes a holiday when some people dress up in devilish caricature.

There are others who don’t require a special day to present themselves in ways they feel most comfortable… People like Anton Szandor LaVey, both a good friend and Feral House author.

Anton’s biography, The Secret Life of a Satanist, by Blanche Barton, has finally undergone a revision and expansion, complete with new chapters about his final decades, and new images not seen in the first edition.

We very much enjoyed hanging with “The Doctor” in the noir confines of the Black House in the Richmond District. Reading Blanche’s book is the closest thing to revisiting the Black House and hearing stories from the man himself.

It has just become available, and you can purchase a copy directly from Feral House here.

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=52452014-10-10T17:58:44Z2014-10-10T16:21:29ZWhat an outstanding sight out here on the Olympic Peninsula in the great Pacific Northwest. A dark red moon, the Satanic blood red moon, and I was able to see it, though suffused through passing clouds.

Earlier that evening I was reading about apocalyptic portents, though not the one promoted by fat pastor John Hagee in his Second Coming come-on Four Blood Moons. The apocalyptic notions I read were posted on Facebook by atheists deep in the throes of paranoid crises. They were discussing the termination of their race, government lies about the ebola crisis, financial insanity on the verge of putting down the entire world, berserk police actions bringing on major riots, insidious corporations despoiling all our food, and last but not least, climate control silenced by the media and paid tools. It’s as if everyone on earth has turned into pastor John Hagee.

Thirty years ago I put together the contents for Apocalypse Culture, which later became somewhat influential… I think it had to do with recognizing the presence of insane ideas intentionally ignored or dismissed by the society’s titans and papers of record. A decade and a half later came Apocalypse Culture II, which I was incapable of keeping in print due to the refusal of printers to print the damn thing. Some people continue to ask when we’ll be doing a new version of Apocalypse Culture… I put the request aside as I just didn’t see the need… The time didn’t seem right.

But now I must admit that I saw this recent blood red moon as a deadly portent: the culture has undoubtedly gone full barking mad, and no better reason to do another edition of Apocalypse Culture. The society is going insane, and though people are worried that things are not right, they are reluctant to recognize the ideas that are bringing the newest apocalyptic environment.

Today I invite people to suggest ideas for, or forward me their own possible contributions to an Apocalypse Culture III, at info@feralhouse.com.

I’d also like to remind readers of a new release, a revised and expanded version of The Secret Life of a Satanist by Blanche Barton, a book that contains new images and new chapters. Is it strange to say that I feel blessed for knowing Anton LaVey, and publishing his work? But so it is.

Secret Life of a Satanist cover

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=52312014-10-03T16:50:03Z2014-10-03T16:33:49ZAt times in our life we run across certain people who alter our thought patterns… People like James Shelby Downard and Kerry Thornley.

Downard wrote “King-Kill / 33°”, a piece that forever changed the way I looked at news in America.

Then I met Kerry Thornley at a so-called Phenomicon in Atlanta in 1992 that hosted both Church of the Subgenius weirdos and conspiracy wackos, like me.

Thornley appeared at Phenomicon with his ‘zine, Zenarchy, and his book Principia Discordia, a holy tribute to his odd beliefs. What made me most curious about Thornley was fact that he was a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald years before Oswald was accused of killing the president. Not only did Thornley know Oswald well, he wrote a novel about him called The Idle Warriors, years prior to Kennedy’s assassination.

Thornley was dragged into Jim Garrison’s JFK trial because Garrison was convinced that Thornley served as a double for Lee Harvey Oswald and thus was a participant in the Kennedy assassination. For years, Thornley disputed Garrison’s claim, then later came to recognize that yes, perhaps he was indeed a mind-controlled part of the plot.

The weird, wild, but strangely newsworthy mindfucks surrounding Kerry Thornley make up the dynamic content of Adam Gorightly’s newly available Feral House book called Caught in the Crossifre: Kerry Thornley, Lee Oswald and the Garrison Investigation. And it’s a remarkable book.

Check the Caught in the Crossfire page on the Feral House site for chapters from the Thornley saga, including “A Homosexual Thrill Kill?”…

]]>0Monica Rochesterhttp://feralhouse.comhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=52232014-09-26T16:51:48Z2014-09-26T16:51:48ZFrom September 21 to 27, the American Library Association presents Banned Books Week to draw “national attention to the harms of censorship.” This event is also sponsored by publishers/distributors Random House and Perseus Books Group.

Articles that promote this event highlight popular bestsellers by Kurt Vonnegut, J.D. Salinger and other media stars that have been excluded from some library or class… But what about actual books that dare not even get ordered by sanctimonious bookstores or libraries? Or ones that touch on political and cultural issues that seem too “risky” or do not sell well enough to deserve the attention of the American Library Association or Random House?

Feral House has had some experience with book bans.

The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror by the late David Hoffman was sued into non-existence by the Deputy Chief of the FBI (Oliver “Buck” Revell). A Feral House satirical book called Cad: A Handbook for Heels was seized from a Canadian lesbian bookstore due to book-banning laws promoted by Catherine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. An article I wrote about Ms. Dworkin around this time became subject to a trial in Bellingham Washington when Jim Goad’s ANSWER Me! magazine (Issue 4) was seized by outraged feminists. Russian translations of Feral House books Extreme Islam, Apocalypse Culture and Apocalypse Culture II were seized, banned and burned in Russia. Incidentally, its publisher (Ultra Kultur’s Ilya Kormitsev) died a horrible death soon after these books were banned…

Most recently there has a been a call to ban and burn the satirical Feral House book Hipster Hitler. You can read about this here: … the irony of the call to ban and destroy this satirical tome is just too fucking much.

All this makes me wonder: what is Banned Books Week? Is it how the American Library Association and the largest publishers praise themselves but dare not touch upon other sorts of bans?

]]>0fh_internhttp://feralhouse.com/?p=52112014-09-19T18:47:26Z2014-09-19T18:03:23Z“You can only solve a murder by knowing who is destroying the evidence.” — Mae Brussell

Some people blame the origins of modern conspiracy theory on the work of Mae Brussell.

What if Mae Brussell never uttered a “conspiratorial” idea, and backed up all her statements with major newspaper articles? You’d have trouble shuttling off her work to a realm supposedly occupied by kookery…

I’ve lately been rereading the new Feral House release, The Essential Mae Brussell: Investigations of Fascism in America, edited by Alex Constantine with an introduction by Paul Krassner. It’s an amazing book, the first one ever issued to reproduce this woman’s important, stimulating work.

The deaths of White House employees at the time of Watergate … the troubling issues surrounding overdoses of youth leaders … the creation of SLA and other questionable organizations that so affected the country.